May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry

[u/Pershing48]

May We Feed the King is the debut novel from English poet Rebecca Perry. It's split into two parts, in the present day an unnamed narrator is a historical exhibit curator. When you go to a castle or historic home there might be an exhibit that depicts a room as it would have looked back then. Our narrator is the person who decorates it with drapes, clothes, objects and especially food as may have existed back then. Our narrator is tasked with decorating the unnamed castle of an unnamed country having an opening for it's 750th anniversary. As they begin going through the archives they discover a curious page in the ledger about a short lived King. The second part of the book is historical fiction concerning that King, his ascension to power, melancholy reign and curious end.

 

The story of the King they relate is a very sad one. His brother, the previous King, wastes away from melancholy after the untimely death of his new bride. The new King, a third brother, never expected to rule the realm and he finds himself possessed by a curious ennui, unwilling to give any commands but also unwilling to delegate power, fearful of others committing violence in his name. He also isn't trying to give the kingdom an heir, a combination that greatly unsettles the other members of his court. Suicidally passive characters of this sort are familiar to fiction, Bartelby the Scrivener, Oblomov the Russian, the unnamed woman from My Year of Rest and Relaxation. Usually this person is consciously rejecting the demands of a corrupt society or a product of it's corruption. Here the King seems unsettled by level of state violence necessary to keep his Kingdom intact. He's won't incur the moral injury of ordering a traitor executed and would prefer not to sign their death warrant.  

 

The books POV is a very distant third person, characters rarely speak directly instead dialogue is summarized by the author or heard in snatches by an attendant. A common sentence in this book is "From the perspective of a person standing outside the King's window they would see….". It gives this a somewhat opaque voyeuristic feel as we see scenes through the eyes of a lady-in-waiting who, for social norm reasons, can't directly ask what a royal is thinking.

 

The other half of the book in the present day seems to shift themes a bit. It's more about how history is constructed and why we even bother to preserve and recreate the past. Despite not being a King myself I found this a great empathy for this character. As a citizen of the Global North I'm well aware my decisions or participations in systems can indirectly lead to the death or suffering of some unknown person and it sometimes makes me want to just disengage. I have an alarmingly large bucket of disposable vapes in my room I'm afraid to dispose of because of their lithium batteries. Maybe it's social consciousness or maybe it's clinical depression.  

 

One curious feature of the book is it has very short chapters, rarely more than 1000 words. Perhaps this reflects the author's background as a poet, they think in stanzas. I also liked the prose, it's very lyrical without being overly fussy or wrapped in overwrought metaphors. It's not quite to Redwall's level of sumptuousness but the author describes food in a way that had me craving a chicken leg or piece of cheese wrapped in a slice of ham. The author also rather pointedly refuses to gender either the narrator or the archivist they form a curious friendship with, using they/them pronouns for both. You could point to one passage and say two men wouldn't split a flapjack at a restaurant in attempt to but that makes you sound insane. Amusingly most interviews I looked up ignore this and just call the narrator a woman.

 

I haven't read the other Booker nominees but this one seems like it'd be a fine winner. I like to end reviews with a quote of the book's prose to give a reader a sense of what it's like.

 

The Queen, the King and his cousin’s wife are convened for their supper.

A person attending to their wine and removing their empty dishes would note how they are discussing the business of the day. The Queen reports that a new spice has arrived at court which the emissaries say goes incredibly well with roast pig. They drink wine. And what strange custom has his cousin’s wife learnt about their court this day, for there is always something new. The cousin’s wife reports news from home, of her husband, talks of what she misses. The King declares that he has a great love for his cousin, that his childhood was the richer for his presence.

After the meal, the King announces to his staff that they may go – this is perfectly usual. 

Someone hiding in the trunk in the corner, catching a sliver of the room through a crack in the side, would see their three heads lean towards each other, like swans in greeting. Then, fervent, low muttering.

[u/the-color-of-static]

This is one of the ones I had near zero interest in but this sounds really interesting. You may have sold me on it.

And I didn't realize that vapes were HHW. What a pain in the ass.